HIGH SCHOOL MATTERS

Our Mission:

The Secondary Section of the National Council of Teachers of English enhances the professional lives of secondary English language arts educators and the quality of education of their students by providing multiple forums for significant dialogue on historical, current, and emerging topics of interest to secondary English language arts educators.

in the Communication Arts Division at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. A 24 year professional, Dr. Heller currently teaches Freshman Accelerated English and Junior Advanced Placement English. He is the co-author of AP English Bound, and the newest member elected to the Secondary Section Steering Committee.

"At the core of much of my teaching is the belief that literacy informs democracy, and that the ability to read carefully and communicate one’s thoughts in a clear, cogent manner is a marker of real progress—both for individual students and communities as a whole. Therefore, we do not read and annotate Cassius’ lines about Julius Caesar becoming a threat to Rome so that we will necessarily remember everything Cassius said.

Resources for teachers:

NCTE Presentations and Events

To really teach a text well, and to develop students' habits for tackling texts, teachers have to understand what factors contribute to text complexity. As noted in the Common Core State Standards, this includes quantitative measures, qualitative measures, and an analysis of the match between the text and the tasks students will complete. This LIVE Web seminar is part of a series focused on skills and teaching practices that are essential to successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards. School leaders, coaches, and teachers will learn strategies for gearing up for the demands of the CCSS.

NCTE Publications

English Journal is NCTE's award-winning journal of ideas for English language arts teachers in junior and senior high schools and middle schools. It presents information on the teaching of writing and reading, literature, and language, and includes information on how teachers are putting the latest technologies to work in their classrooms.